A miracle accomplished by a small pencil?

I have a pencil.
Sharpen a pencil with a knife.
Pieces of chiseled wood fall down.
The fallen pieces become branches and leaves, and soon grow into an oak tree.
Another type of small tree sprouts here and there.
The trees grow and grow, forming a forest where countless creatures live peacefully.
As the wind blows, the birds living in the forest fly up in a magnificent way.
It's like a feast of peace and life.

If this picture book had ended like this, would it have been a wonderful(?) fantasy called "The Miracle of a Small Pencil"? Having opened with an unexpected beginning, the book now guides us through an even more surprising arc.
As the wind blows, the birds living in the forest fly beautifully.
Oh, no.
It wasn't the wind, it was the tree that was cut down and flew away in shock.
Why was it cut down like this? Who destroyed this beautiful forest, and why? Birds that have lost their habitats follow it endlessly.
Follow the tail of a truck loaded with cut trees.
I am very worried about what will happen to this forest that has been damaged like this, and where will the trees that have been transported like this be sold?

In this way, artist Kim Hye-eun seems to have imagined filling the fallen pencil fragments with a forest for a reason, as she turns the flow of the painting in a completely different direction.
The large truck disappears into an even larger factory, leaving behind the birds that follow it.
What horrific things happen in this factory? The machines in the factory run without rest.
The hands of those who create something are always busy.

But unlike what you see from the outside, the machines don't look like monsters.
Rather, the inside of the factory is neat and tidy, and the machines boast beautiful structures and produce colorful products.
While you wonder what the factory is making, the next picture changes into an art studio filled with colorful pencils.
Inside the art studio, a child is seen holding a pencil with his heel raised high.
The child leaves the art studio and walks somewhere.
What kind of world will this child's pencil create?


May my careless habits not become a sword that destroys the world,
I hope that our insignificant actions will create something special.

A person can sharpen a pencil or cut down a tree.
Conversely, a person can make a pencil or plant a tree.
And you can pick up the pencil you made that way and draw with it.
The author seems to have had quite a bit of trouble at this crossroads.
The author's wish that drawing with a pencil born from the sacrifice of a tree would save someone's life is secretly felt.

Artist Kim Hye-eun is a painter.
The child in the picture book also comes out of the art studio and draws a picture.
A pencil is an essential item for an artist.
So, to draw something, you need a pencil, and you need to sharpen that pencil to draw.
To do that, you have to buy factory-made pencils.
Pencils can be easily purchased if you have money.
You can just draw with that pencil.
This natural flow rather confuses the writer.
To the writer, the act of sharpening a pencil and the act of chopping down a tree didn't seem all that different.
Did you just think that he was drawing a trivial picture without any real thought?
So, have you ever looked back at yourself using a pencil made from a cut tree?

In fact, this crossroads is given to everyone, but not everyone sees it.
Perhaps it may not be visible to those who think of wealth only in terms of money.
The day you realize the true nature of that money, you will find yourself standing tall in the empty space of the forest that was cut down.

A pencil is not just a pencil. Depending on how I use it, it can become a tree or a forest.
The trees in that forest are cut down again and become countless pencils, but they do not always become pencils that save the trees and the forest.
Because different people use it and the way they use it is also different.
That is, some people's actions create a virtuous cycle, while others' actions create a vicious cycle.
I think the author wanted to ask the question, “What should I do and how should I do it between this virtuous and vicious cycle?”


The devices, meanings, and mindsets hidden in the picture

"Pencil" is a wordless picture book.
There is no text on the cover or back cover.
Moreover, at first glance, it may seem like a picture book that flows naturally like water without any devices, but in fact, there are many devices hidden within the pictures.
So, for people who need text to understand, this might be a very difficult picture book.
But if you turn the pages leisurely, looking at more places than just the words, stories that were not visible will flow smoothly, as if threads are unraveling from a tangled ball of yarn.

From the scene where the pencil is sharpened to the scene where the forest is formed, the pictures are layered one by one, as if time is piling up to form a large forest.
After that, the next few scenes of birds flying and trucks entering the factory are not continuous but are split into individual pages.
The process of trees being cut down and taken to a factory seems to be a metaphor for the violation of the laws of nature.
Then, the factory, the flower shop, the child's room, and the space that becomes the forest again are connected naturally like the first scenes.
Sharpening pencils, making pencils, and drawing with pencils are all processes of production.
Depending on who goes through this process and with what mindset, the results will inevitably be different.

We can think of many things when it comes to sharpening a pencil.
To sharpen a pencil, you need a knife, and to cut wood, you need a saw.
A pencil is useless if it is not sharpened, and a tree cannot be made into the tools necessary for life if it is not cut down.
But our society produces too much stuff.
Pencils are the same.
In the past, pencils were used by putting them in the caps of ballpoint pens, but these days, pencils and ballpoint pens are all that roll around.

An author is someone who draws pictures with pencil and paint and publishes books.
Perhaps it is a writer's mission to write this book with the hope that the work of sharpening pencils will not be a tree that is carelessly cut down, but rather a grain of wheat that will help more trees grow, and that we will not be absorbed in our own work but will not forget the value and sacrifice of the things that have come to us.


Peel off the cover and turn it into a forest frame.

This book has a cover.
The back cover features a long, untitled drawing of a forest.
I encourage you to peel off this sign, stick it on your wall, and think about what nature means to us.
It would be good to think about the uses of pencils that have piled up and fallen asleep at home.